Dark times: It's just the beginning
by TheHogwartsHobbit
Summary: Voldemort is at large. People are dying at an alarming rate. 11 year old Robert Williams has been thrown in the deep end after just finding out he was a wizard. How will he and friends Harry Potter and Caitlyn Jones survive?


**Prologue**

**31****st**** October 1981**

The brown and yellow autumn leaves crunched as he walked across the footpath, heading nowhere in particular. They had made a switch of the secret keeper just hours ago. He won't fail them; he wouldn't fail them for as long as he lived, he wanted to prove to his best friend that he wasn't a spare wheel.

The wind was picking up in southern London; he still had no idea where he was going it was like his legs were carrying him themselves without him controlling them. The temperature suddenly dropped about ten degrees. It couldn't be dementors they weren't allowed in the muggle world. But it wasn't dementors, it was much worse, much, much worse. What he saw in the sky he knew they were coming for him or them but in order to get to them they had to get an answer off this man, an answer that would make the man choose between life and death. He had already chosen.

He stood still looking up at the almost black sky with only a skull shaped cloud hovering in it. It was right above him. A masked man appeared from the shadows.

"Wormtail, you know what we want" said the masked man in a cool tone.

"Where are you going to take me?" asked Wormtail.

"To him, where else?" answered the masked man.

The mousy looking man gulped with fear and then thought some encouraging words 'I'm a Gryffindor, I'm brave, and I won't back down' he thought it over and over again. The masked man grabbed hold of Wormtail's arm. After a second of spinning wildly they arrived in a dimly lit room, portraits hang on the dark walls, in front of the fireplace there was a lounge chair filled by the one man almost everyone feared.

"Lucius, have you found him?" said a cold voice.

"Yes, my lord, he's right here" said the masked man guiding Wormtail to the fireplace. All Wormtail wanted to do right now was to turn into his rat form and scurry off but he remembered he was a Gryffindor and was brave. He-Who-Must-Be-Named was sitting in the chair, his face was pale, eyes were dark with no warmth and his black hair was now turning into a dark grey colour. He sneered when he saw the terrified look on the young adult's face.

"Peter Pettigrew, you know what I require and I won't give up easily" said Voldemort's cold voice. Peter was getting scared, it was coming, the question that would determine his fate. Voldemort stood up, even though he was only a few centimetres taller than Pettigrew, Pettigrew was cowering making him see half the height of the dark lord; he got out his wand from his robes and aimed it at Peter's heart "So I'll ask once and once only where is the Potter child hidden?" He asked.

Peter's heart beat rapidly. He knew what he should answer.

"I'm never telling you!" Peter yelled, no fear filled his voice. Voldemort looked slightly taken aback but smiled evilly.

"Very well, if you're sure that Potter who merrily used you as a spare, he almost always got you to do his assignments for him, am I correct? He blamed you for the trouble he caused. I'm right, aren't I? You deserve much better, Wormtail, tell me where Potter is and I'll make all of your wishes come true" said Voldemort. Peter took this into thought for a few moments but squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

"Are you're sure. Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort said. A jet of green light shot from his wand hitting the short, chubby and rat like man in the heart. Peter Pettigrew fell lifeless onto the floor.

"Great, which other boy is born last year that belongs to an order member?" asked Voldemort, didn't seem at all startled by the dead body at his feet.

"I'll see to it, my lord" Said Lucius and strutted out of the room.

According to Lily's calendar on her wardrobe it was the first of November. She was relieved the dark wizard that was coming to kill her only child didn't show up. She was a bit funny about Peter being the secret keeper, he could cower himself out of things so easily that she wasn't sure that he could die for Harry. She picked up the sweet little baby from his cot and cradled him gently in her arms. The baby giggled softly.

She turned to face her sleeping husband, he wasn't as good looking this morning, his hair was messier than usual and his skin was pale, Lily smiled lightly. She put down the baby boy and got dressed in blue jeans and a green jumper and then picked up Harry and walked downstairs to the living room, everything looked the same as they did the previous day. Was Dumbledore wrong about You-Know-Who? She placed Harry in the high chair and got his baby food from the kitchen and fed it to Harry, she didn't have to bother with the "Here comes the train" act as Harry wasn't as reluctant as other babies were to feed. After she was finished feeding Harry, she put him in his play pen and watched him seemed fascinated by the magic toys that were in it. A knock on the front door startled Lily.

"Who on earth would visit at this-" she looked at her watch it was already eleven- thirty in the morning. She walked over to the front door and answered it. There standing in front of her was two of the marauders, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. They both sighed of relief when they saw her.

"Still alive, then?" joked Sirius. Lily let out a small chuckle.

"No, Sirius, I'm the ghost of Lily Potter, of course I'm alive" answered Lily with a hint of sarcasm. Remus laughed "Come in, James is still asleep" Lily continued. The two men laughed. Although who could blame him, he was up until the early hours of the morning keeping watch for the murderous wizard. Sirius walked quickly into the living room and picked up Harry. Lily and Remus walked behind.

"That's odd I could've sworn Peter would let you, James and little Harry down, I mean he's still a bit scared of me after about ten years and I hope I'm not as bad as You-Know-Who" said Remus quietly to Lily.

"I thought that he would've let us down too but maybe the death eaters haven't found him yet" said Lily. She was getting worried again. Maybe he would track Peter down before they were prepared. But she couldn't think like that.

"Yeah, maybe" said Remus. Sirius was now throwing and catching Harry who was giggling quite loudly. Lily couldn't help but smile she decided to go upstairs and wake up James. When she went into the bedroom it was the same as when she had left him about forty five minutes ago.

"Wake up, sleepy head!" she said loudly, James still didn't stir. "James, it's past twelve o'clock" she said but then thought of another idea. Her mother usually threatened to do this when she was a child and didn't want to get up. She got out her wand and pointed it at her sleeping husband

"_Aquainenti" _

A jet of water appeared out of her wand hitting James. He awoke immediately, shaking his hair like a dog to get the water off. He was wide awake.

"What was that for, Lil?" he said grabbing his circular glasses and putting them on.

"It's quarter past twelve! And Sirius and Remus are here" answered Lily. James face turned from annoyance to shock and quickly got out of bed and used magic to change into fresh clothes and ran downstairs 3 at a time and into the living room. Sirius was still playing with Harry.

"And you say I sleep in for ages" joked Remus when he saw James, Sirius placed Harry back in the play pen and walked over to Remus and James.

"Whoa, Prongs, you look worse than Mooney after a night of his "furry little problem"" said Sirius, Remus glared at him and immediately took it back "No offence Mooney"

"Well thank you Mr. Padfoot for your kind comments" said James with sarcasm.

"We thought the three of you were goners for sure, maybe we underestimated Wormtail after all" said Sirius.

"Or Wormtail's gone into hiding" said James dully.

"James, he can track him as easily as you could track Severus using that map of yours" said Lily.

"She's right, Prongs, maybe he did..." Remus said.

"There's only one way to find out" said James. Sirius and Remus looked at him with confused looks.

"We wait" said James. He cleared his throat and continued "Is Samuel coming or is it just you two coming to check if we were alive.

"Actually, Sam was the one to tell us that you were alive. He came here about eight-thirty and he checked on you guys and said that you were sleeping, with the exception of Prongs junior here. But he has to work. Trying to see if Harry's still in danger or not, I guess" said Sirius.

"We must've been in a deep sleep then. Well Sam's always been a great Marauder and friend, there is no denying it" said James.

The next few hours went on without any trouble (except for Harry causing some mischief thanks to his godfather) but after dinner just as Remus and Sirius were leaving there was a knock on the door. James answered it holding Harry on his hip. There stood the tough looking auror Alastair or "Mad-Eye" Moody. James couldn't tell whether it was good news or bad news since he always had the same expression on his face.

"Pettigrew's dead" he said in his usual gruff voice. James eyes widened, no he can't be.

"Maybe if you let me in, I'll explain" said Mad-Eye.

"Yeah, sure, come in" said James snapping out of it. Mad-Eye limped on his metal leg to the nearest chair in the living room. James walked over to where his wife and best friends were waiting for him.

"It's Mad-Eye, he wants to talk to us, it's not good" James said sadly. The other three adults looked at each other with confused expressions. They went into the living room as James went to put Harry on his play mat.

"Well, I've already told James that Pettigrew's dead" said Mad-eye casually. Sirius and Remus eyes widened as James did, Lily burst into sobs. James comforted her.

"How?" asked Sirius quietly.

"Killing Curse, Voldemort killed him" Said Mad-Eye. The young adults flinched at his name. They knew full well that the auror was afraid of absolutely nothing.

"This is my entire fault" said James.

"James, it's not your fault and you know it!" snapped Lily.

"I also came to tell you that your son is safe, he isn't a target anymore" said Mad-Eye.

"Well at least you don't have to worry anymore" said Sirius.

"Best get going" said Mad-eye and disapparated with a pop.

"He's gone, who knew that Wormtail could be so brave" said Remus sadly.

"Yeah, who knew" said James. With that Sirius and Remus left and they got ready for what would be a sleepless night.

Molly Weasley was preparing the younger Weasley kids for bed. She has already done Percy, and the twins Fred and George (Which were a hand full, yes they were always mischief makers). She was annoyed that her husband, Arthur, didn't help her. She was now changing Ron's clothes and set him in the cot and walked over to Ginny who was already asleep in her cot next to Ron's. She smiled and kissed her on the fore head.

"Molly! Get the kids and yourself out now!" shouted her husband from downstairs. Molly ran downstairs to where Arthur was standing.

"I told you to get out!" snapped Arthur with worry when he saw his wife a few meters away. Molly saw what Arthur was worried about, there in front of them stood the most feared wizard since Grindelwald, Voldemort.

"Give me the boy and you'll be spared" said the cold voice. Which boy? Molly thought. She had six of them.

"No! Never!" shouted Arthur defensively.

"Very well" replied the dark lord. Molly's heart was beating rapidly, she couldn't let him kill, him or them. She quickly put a protective charm on the children's bedrooms so only the order members could find them. Soon after You-Know-Who decided their fate

"_Avada Kedavra!" _

Arthur fell to the floor his blue eyes were open and empty. Molly screamed, Voldemort turned to her she saw only a green light, and heard her own shrill scream, then nothing.

Charlie was reading a book on dragons when he heard a women's scream, it sounded like his mother. He wasn't hearing things because his brother, Bill had dropped his ink and quill, the glass broke on the floor.

"Bill, what was that?" asked Charlie, his voice filled with fear.

"I don't know" Answered Bill "MUM! DAD!" he yelled urgently, he grabbed the magical walkie-talkie so the boys could contact the rest of the family during emergencies.

"Mum, Mum, can you hear me?" said Bill there was no reply. Charlie did the same with his father there was no reply from him either. A beep came in on Bill's Walkie-Talkie

"Bill, Charlie. Are you there?" asked his little brother, Percy

"Yeah we're here. So you heard it too" said Charlie who was sitting next to Bill.

"Yes, it sounded like Mummy, do you know what it was?" said Percy.

"No. Charlie go outside the room but don't go downstairs" said Bill. Charlie walked over to the door but the door refused to open, he got his key from his desk and turned it in the lock, the door still didn't open. An image of his mother's head appeared in the door.

"Do not go through this door. Danger lurks beyond it. Stay where you are until an order member comes to collect you" the image said and disappeared.

"Did you hear it, Percy?" said Bill.

"Yes" he sounded like he was crying "What's going to happen to us Bill?"

"I don't know" answered Bill. He was getting really worried his mother or father weren't answering another beep came through on Charlies walkie-talkie.

"Charlie, what's going on? Why can't we go out of our room with mummy saying it's dangerous?" said one of the toddler twins.

"I don't know, are you and-

"George" finished the boy.

"Fred, don't try to escape, please" Said Bill.

"We won't Billy goat" said Fred.

"Children, come out, come out wherever you are, Voldemort won't hurt you" sang a cold voice. Percy screamed through the walkie-talkie and started to cry loudly.

"Who said that?" asked Fred.

"You don't need to know yet" said Bill quickly and in a panicked tone.

"He's here, Billy. He's killed Mummy and Daddy. We're going to die!" cried Percy.

"We aren't going to die and don't jump to conclusions" snapped Charlie.

"Kids, come on, all I want to do is" The rest of the sentence was blocked out by Percy's scream.

"Percy, why do you keep screaming?" asked Fred. There was no answer. There was a sound of breaking glass coming from Percy's room.

"Percy, are you there?" asked Bill.

"Percy?" said Charlie. The two oldest Weasley boys looked at each other with wide eyes.

"PERCY!" shouted Bill.

"We need a fireplace or Errol now" said Charlie.

"Fred, where's George?" asked Bill.

"He's asleep. I can wake him up if you want" answered Fred.

"No leave him. I'm going to write to Dumbledore. Fred, stay on the walkie-talkie" said Bill.

"Okay" said Fred. Bill scribbled a letter to Dumbledore and called Errol to the room.

"Take it to Dumbledore" Bill said to Errol, he was a useless owl but what else could he use? His parents would be dead by now and Percy was either injured or dead.

"Come on Weasels, I don't have all day" said Voldemort.

"What about Ron and Ginny?" said Charlie.

"They're probably asleep. Mum put the charm on all of our rooms" answered Bill.

In about five minutes of Voldemort trying to persuade the kids to come out of their rooms and the boys worry, there was a loud BANG! And Professor McGonagall appeared out of thin air.

"Come on you two, you'll have to be taken to the ministry" She said in her stern voice. The two boys took hold the deputy headmistress's arms in about a second they arrived in the ministry and let go of their transfiguration professor.

"Professor, what happened to our siblings?" asked Bill with worry.

"They had all been taken by members of the order to somewhere safe" said Professor McGonagall.

"What about Percy, he wasn't answering us" said Charlie.

"He'll probably be taken to St Mungos if something is wrong" Answered McGonagall.

They walked into a small room at the far end of the department.

"Professor, where exactly in the ministry are we?" asked Bill.

"Department of children welfare" She answered not looking at the boys.

They walked into what looked like an office. The walls were a plain grey, cabinets were pushed against the walls and in the centre of the room was a black desk with only a few stacks of paper and a name plate that read:

_M. Summers _

The two boys sat on the chairs opposite the one that obviously belonged to whoever this M Summers was. They both felt like they were back at the muggle elementary school they attended before Hogwarts, being in trouble with the school principal.

An old, bald, chubby man with circular glasses perched on the tip of his nose entered the room by the back door. He saw the two red headed boys and nodded his head knowingly.

"Ah, you must be Bill and Charlie Weasley, I presume" he said kindly. The two boys nodded.

"Now I just received information that... You-Know-Who attacked your house fifteen minutes ago. Now err- I'm sorry to say this but you're parent's are-

"-dead" finished Charlie sadly.

"Yes" he answered sadly, clearing his throat he went on.

"Now, your family will be split up, I'm sorry to say, but you two will be put together but you won't be put with family members since after this incident they are in hiding"

"So who are we going to be put with?" asked Bill.

"Either Minerva McGonagall or-

"Hang on Malcolm, you know as well as I do that I can't take care of them" said McGonagall outraged by saying that she could be the guardian of two Weasleys.

"Yes, I'm well aware Minerva. As I was saying, or the Diggory's and I'm guessing it's the Diggorys then"

The two Weasleys knew Amos as their father worked with him at the ministry and only knew the Diggory's had a long family history of being sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Are you two fine with this?" asked Mr Summers. The boys nodded politely. Professor McGonagall didn't buy it. After about forty five minutes of waiting for Mr. Diggory to arrive and sign papers the two oldest Weasleys found themselves at Diggory Manor.


End file.
